Most people above the age of fifty take medications prescribed by doctors that has effects on other drugs induced into the body. The body may or may not react to it. Most prescribed drugs reduce the efficacy of Covid-19 drugs.
Doctors and medical practitioners recommend incorporating enough gaps between the dosage of the prescribed drugs and the Covid-19 drugs. Medications such as ‘booster shots’ may be of help in such cases.
Whether or not the prescribed drug users get vaccinated
Though prescribed drugs may reduce the effects of the vaccine, it doesn’t completely nullify the effects. Therefore, even people who are subjected to immunosuppressive drugs do receive some amount of protection, if not complete protection. The people who use immunosuppressive drugs are eligible for vaccination should take the vaccines as per the guidelines.
Prescribed drugs that affect the Covis-19 drugs
Though many medications reduce the efficacy of Covid-19 drugs, not all drugs are harmful. There are a few sets of drugs that cause major damage. Studies have shown that immunosuppressive drugs have slowed down the ability of the immune system to respond to vaccines.
Immunosuppressive drugs are usually used to treat ailments where the immunity of the body starts damaging various parts of the body. Immunosuppressive drugs are used to reduce the damage of the body’s system on various parts of the body. These kinds of medications are used to treat people diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis.
Immunosuppressive are used during organ transplantation. This is done so that the immune system doesn’t the new organ to be a foreign body and cause damage to it. Usually, immunosuppressive drugs are recommended only for people with certain chronic ailments. However, there is one form of immunosuppressive drug that is widely and popularly used for various purposes by many, that is steroids.
Medicines such as dexamethasone, prednisone contain steroids in their composition. Steroids are generally used to treat short-term diseases such as bronchitis, sinus, etc., and are often found in medicines that one may often use.
Blood-thinning medicines and derma fillers
People who had been using drugs used for blood-thinning, derma fillers, didn’t respond well to the vaccine and caused physical ailments. It may cause itches, rashes, and swellings. Usually, blood-thinning is administered to people suffering from cancer.
Clash between vaccines and prescribed medications
Vaccines cause the immune system of the body to recognizes any foreign body that has entered the system and immediately start creating antibodies to fight the foreign body. Much contrary to this immunosuppressive drug reduces the ability of the immunity system to recognize foreign bodies and form antibodies against them. While the immunosuppressive drugs reduce the immunity of the body, the vaccine doesn’t boost the immunity system of the body, vaccines only activate the immunity system. Hence, the two process clashes and if the body experiences both processes at the same time, the efficiency of the vaccine is reduced.
Methods to diminish the effects of the prescribed drugs
Medical practitioners and scholars are continuing their studies to combat the effects of prescribed medicines on Covid-19 drugs. They believe there are ways to deal with this problem and wish to devise plans for the same.
Few experts suggest that one might opt to pause their medications for a few days after getting injected with the vaccine, if possible. The medications must be stopped two weeks before taking the vaccine. Once the vaccine has triggered the immune system to recognize the foreign body and form the antibody, one may start consuming the medicines again. However, this is not feasible since many may face major health issues if they skip their medicines for so long or even for a brief period.
One should take the advice of a doctor first before adopting this way. No medications must be stopped without consulting a doctor. Each immunosuppressive drug functions in a different manner.
In some cases, there might be an emergency need for medicines. In these cases, it is advised to take the medicines, even the vaccine was injected a day or two ago. For example, rabies injection contains immunosuppressive drugs, however, if a dog bites one must take rabies injection, even if the vaccine has been injected a day or two ago.
There are various forms of immunosuppressive drugs and each one affects the vaccine differently. Hence, the effect is not the same on everyone. Different people experience different side effects of this. While some may manage to have a strong immunity despite these others are more easily prone to the disease. This makes it very difficult to apply one particular method to deal with this problem.
What might work well for one, might fail disastrously for someone else? Some experts have suggested the option of a ‘booster shot’, which might help boost the immunity system. This dose can be taken only after a few months of the vaccination. This method is quite effective. However, there is no assurance that during these months in-between, the immunity of the body won’t be fragile during this time, and the person won’t contract the deadly virus.
Preventive Measures
While the vaccines may not be fully effective, the experts have recommended certain preventive measures. These won’t help boost the efficiency of the vaccine but might reduce the risk of contraction when the body is the least immune. One must always take precautions, since taking prescribed medicines tend to reduce the immunity of the body. Hence it increases the chances of contraction of the virus.
One must follow the Covid-19 guidelines strictly even after getting vaccinated. One must continue to wash their hands and use sanitizers, wear masks and maintain physical distance. The vaccine reduces the risks of the virus but doesn’t eliminate the risk. Healthy food, which increases the immunity power of the body must be consumed in large amounts. One should avoid crowded places as much as possible.
In cases where prescription drugs are used, the reduced efficiency of the vaccine may not prevent one from contracting the disease, but it will prevent the condition from turning serious.
